EU informed about Serbia’s bid

The Spanish EU presidency in Brussels has informed representatives of EU states about Serbia’s request to receive candidacy status for admission to the EU.

A short information about the Serbian candidacy was presented at the meeting of the EU Western Balkans Committee and the EU Permanent Representatives Committee.

The Spanish presidency will “in a given moment and on time” propose putting Serbia’s application on the agenda of the EU Council of Ministers, but it will time to harmonize the opinions on the issue within the EU 27, Beta news agency reported today.

The Council of Ministers would instruct the EC to prepare its “opinion” on justification of the Serbian candidacy if all the conditions were met.

Officials in Brussels think that this could happen in the end of February at the earlies, but that it is more likely to expect the opinion in March or April.

As they met, the ambassadors and other high officials of the EU devoted their attention to the “worrying” situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina, reports stressed.

Several EU members think that the EU together with U.S. would have to take new political and diplomatic steps in the next three to four months in order to convince Bosnian leaders that it is necessary to reach an agreement on key reforms and constitutional changes.

In their opinion, it has to be done before parties in Bosnia-Herzegovina start their election campaigns in the spring.

President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy pointed out the necessity of continuing the admission of the new members to the EU.

In a speech made in Germany, reported in Brussels, Van Rompuy said that Croatia and Macedonia already had the EU candidacy status, while the Schengen area visas were abolished for citizens of Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia.

He stated that thanks to the reformed institutions the EU was now more capable to influence the “global distribution of power, which changes quickly”.

Van Rompuy was also quoted as saying that the EU would probably have to determine again the nature of its relations with the U.S., China and Russia.